FoodMinds Forges Alliance Around FDA's Changes

With the food industry bracing for the Food and Drug Administration’s updates to its Nutrition Facts label policies, FoodMinds has forged an alliance to help clients navigate the forthcoming communications and compliance issues.

With the food industry bracing for the Food and Drug Administration’s updates to its Nutrition Facts label policies, FoodMinds has forged an alliance to help clients navigate the forthcoming communications and compliance issues.

The alliance, Food Label Compass, brings FoodMinds together with science-based messaging shop Nutrition Impact and regulatory consulting firm EAS Consulting Group. Together, the firms have developed an offering around the questions: what does the new policy mean for your products? How do you comply? What’s the strategic roadmap for these changes?

These changes mark the FDA’s first labeling overhaul in 20 years and are expected to be announced by the first half of 2014. The new guidelines are expected involve changes to serving sizes, daily values and nutrition claim criteria.

FoodMinds partner Bill Layden says the alliance formed from client demand, but also, because given the span of time since the last labeling overhaul, many food manufacturers don’t have staff on-hand who have deep experience dealing in this area.

“This is about more than labeling changes, but an opportunity to talk about product innovation and renovation,” he adds.

When asked about the larger challenges facing the industry, Layden noted the tension, both domestically and internationally, between reducing fats, sodium and added sugars while also maintaining the sensory experience and price range. There’s also the issue of bridging communication between the nutrition and wellness sector and the food science and technology side.

“They have developed through different disciplines and attract different types of people who don’t always communicate well with each other,” Layden said.